Lifelong county resident still entertaining at age 94
There's a defining thread running through Butler County. It sometimes takes the form of a pencil drawing or the imprint of a house etched into a stone slab.
Sometimes it's the names of community veterans carved into a granite wall, the structures housing a business or church, or even the sweet sound of “Summertime” played on a saxophone within those spaces.
This thread takes many routes but always leads back to one man.
John W. Gumpper has lived all 94 years of his life in Butler County, working and volunteering in many capacities.
“I don't have any dull times,” Gumpper said, sitting in his living room at Newhaven Court at Clearview where he moved in 2009.
The room is filled with mementos of a life lived in pursuit of many passions. Framed pencil and ink drawings by Gumpper hang on several walls, along with decades of family photos.
In one corner rests a model of the P-51 Mustang fighter plane Gumpper flew during the two years he served with the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. And among these treasures, never far from reach, Gumpper keeps his soprano saxophone.
“I had a very musical family, and they were all playing,” Gumpper said. “An aunt of mine bought me that saxophone, and I found out I could play songs even if I just heard them once. If I could sing it, I could play it.”
Gumpper said the saxophone he plays Thursday evenings for Newhaven residents is the same one his aunt bought him when he was 10 or 11 years old. It's still reliable after more than half a century of constant use in venues as different as 2 a.m. clubs and a United Methodist Church.
Gumpper's daughter, Nancy Fretwell of Bradford Woods, Allegheny County, said she's amazed by the life left in the saxophone.
“I don't know if instruments were ever meant to be played that often for that many decades,” Fretwell said. “It's a little gem.”
Fretwell said Gumpper has played in numerous bands since he was a child performing original music with his siblings on KDKA radio.
Despite giving so much of his life to music, Gumpper said playing his “silver sax” wasn't his real job.He began working for Walter L. Wimer and Associates as an architectural designer in the mid-1940s, where he drew Butler County houses and community buildings for decades while selling and donating drawings on the side.“It sounds as though it's a task, but it isn't,” Gumpper said. “I did it all because it was fun, and I enjoyed doing it, especially if it was for a good cause.”Fretwell said her father inspires her to take pride in her hometown.“Every store owner on Main Street knew and respected (him),” Fretwell said. “It was kind of nice growing up with a father who was so liked.”The Butler County Historical Society's executive director, Pat Collins, said Gumpper has a “volunteer spirit,” and his artwork and photos hang in the society's building.“He gave a lot to church and community,” Collins said. “He was always someone you could talk to and get kind advice.”Gumpper said for as long as he can he intends to keep giving to the community that has given so much to him.“The big advantage (is) that I've lived in a town like Butler,” Gumpper said. “In Pittsburgh, I'd just be another guy in the line doing something. I was just lucky that I was where I could do this.”
